Ruan Mei | Honkai: Star Rail

Overview

Ruan Mei remains an excellent Break / universal Harmony support, providing rare Weakness Break Efficiency, RES PEN, SPD, Break Effect, and teamwide DMG. She is especially strong in modern Break teams alongside units like Fugue, Dahlia, Rappa, and Firefly.

Role

Break Amplifier / Teamwide Support

Playstyle

Use Skill to activate Overtone, then mostly Basic ATK while maintaining its 3-turn duration. Use Ultimate before important Break/burst windows so the team benefits from RES PEN and Thanatoplum Rebloom.

Why It Works

Ruan Mei's Skill gives 50% Weakness Break Efficiency and up to 68% teamwide DMG at 180% Break Effect. Her Ultimate adds 25% All-Type RES PEN, making both traditional and Break damage significantly stronger.

Watch For

Reach 180% Break Effect in combat to fully activate her A6. Also keep both Overtone and her Ultimate field active during your team's main damage windows.

Playstyle

Combat Flow

Technique activates Skill at battle start → Basic ATKs while the buff remains → Ultimate before the damage window → refresh Skill when needed → repeat.

Key Notes

Aim for 180%+ Break Effect in combat and at least 134 SPD. Use HP/DEF Body, SPD Boots, HP/DEF Sphere, ERR Rope.
Ultimate grants 25% All-Type RES PEN.
At 180% Break Effect, Skill provides up to 68% DMG.

Build & Investment

Light Cones

Primary

Past Self in Mirror

Signature Break Effect, team damage, energy, and Skill Point utility.

Alternative

Memories of the Past

Break Effect and energy for stable rotations.

Relics

Primary

Watchmaker, Master of Dream Machinations

Team Break Effect when she uses Ultimate.

Alternative

Messenger Traversing Hackerspace

Speed-focused general support alternative.

Planars

Primary

Sprightly Vonwacq

Energy and early action for immediate Skill setup.

Alternative

Broken Keel

Team CRIT DMG in non-Break teams after Effect RES.

Main Stats

Body

HP%
AlternativeDEF%

Default durability body.

Equivalent defensive alternative.

Feet

SPD

Supports buff and energy cadence.

Sphere

HP%

Default defensive sphere.

Rope

Energy Regeneration Rate
SituationalBreak Effect

Preferred for Ultimate uptime.

Alternative when energy rotation is already guaranteed.

Recommended Substats

Break Effect
SPD
HP%
DEF%
Effect RES

Candle Lights on Still Waters reaches its full damage buff at 180% Break Effect in battle, including active bonuses. After reaching that cap, tune SPD for the team and improve durability. Extra Break Effect still affects her Break damage and recovery delay; the damage-buff cap is less important when the main output is Super Break.

Eidolon Investment

E0 already provides Weakness Break Efficiency, RES PEN and delayed enemy recovery. E1 adds DEF ignore during her Zone. Choose it for that conditional team amplification, rather than treating extra Eidolons as necessary for a Break team.

Past Self in Mirror supplies Break Effect, Energy at each wave and a Skill Point on Ultimate when she has at least 150% Break Effect. Its ordinary damage bonus does not increase Super Break damage. Check the team’s Energy and Skill Point needs before replacing an existing cone.

Allied damage ignores 20% DEF while the Ultimate Zone is active. The bonus depends on maintaining that Zone.

Adds 40% ATK when allies deal damage to Weakness Broken enemies. This helps ATK-scaling damage; it is not a direct Break damage bonus.

An enemy Weakness Break grants Ruan Mei 100% Break Effect for three turns. Count its temporary uptime separately from her permanent build.

Extends the Ultimate Zone by one turn and increases the Talent’s Break damage multiplier. It improves Zone coverage and her own contribution, rather than adding a new team requirement.

Teams

Recommended Teammates

Firefly Super Break

Harmony Trailblazer supplies Super Break while Gallagher sustains and Ruan Mei accelerates Toughness damage.

Ruan MeiCore character
Firefly
Trailblazer (Harmony)
Gallagher

Premium DoT

Kafka and Black Swan exploit her universal damage and speed buffs while Huohuo sustains.

Ruan MeiCore character
Kafka
Black Swan
Huohuo

Best Ruan Mei Teams

28,682 observed teams36 recent contexts

Most Played With

Most Played Teams

#141.1%11,787 teams
- Ruan Mei
- Fugue
- Firefly
- The Dahlia
#28.9%2,559 teams
- Ruan Mei
- Firefly
- The Dahlia
- Trailblazer (Harmony)
#33.3%950 teams
- Ruan Mei
- Kafka
- Black Swan
- Hysilens
#43.2%911 teams
- Ruan Mei
- Gallagher
- Firefly
- The Dahlia

Explore full Team Comp Finder

Skills

Basic ATK

Threading Fragrance

Single AttackLv. 6

Deals Ice DMG equal to 100% of Ruan Mei's ATK to one designated enemy target.

Lv. 6

Skill

String Sings Slow Swirls

SupportLv. 10

After using her Skill, Ruan Mei gains Overtone, lasting for 3 turn(s). This duration decreases by 1 at the start of Ruan Mei's every turn. When Ruan Mei has Overtone, all allies' DMG increases by 32.0% and Weakness Break Efficiency increases by 50%.

Lv. 10

Ultimate

Petals to Stream, Repose in Dream

SupportLv. 10

Ruan Mei deploys a Zone that lasts for 2 turns. The Zone's duration decreases by 1 at the start of her turn.

While inside the Zone, all allies' All-Type RES PEN increases by 25.0% and their attacks apply Thanatoplum Rebloom to the enemies hit.

When these enemies attempt to recover from Weakness Break, Thanatoplum Rebloom is triggered, extending the duration of their Weakness Break, delaying their action by an amount equal to 20% of Ruan Mei's Break Effect plus 10%, and dealing Break DMG equal to 50% of Ruan Mei's Ice Break DMG.

Enemy targets cannot have Thanatoplum Rebloom re-applied to them until they recover from Weakness Break.

Lv. 10

Talent

Somatotypical Helix

SupportLv. 10

Increases SPD by 10.0% for all teammates (i.e., excluding this unit). When allies Break an enemy target's Weakness, Ruan Mei deals to this enemy target Break DMG equal to 120.0% of her Ice Break DMG.

Lv. 10

Technique

Silken Serenade

EnhanceLv. 1

After using the Technique, gains Silken Serenade. At the start of the next battle, automatically triggers the Skill for 1 time(s) without consuming Skill Points.

In Simulated Universe or Divergent Universe, when Ruan Mei has Silken Serenade, the team actively attacking enemies will always be regarded as attacking their Weakness to enter combat, and this attack can reduce all enemies' Toughness regardless of Weakness types. When breaking Weakness, triggers Weakness Break Effect corresponding to the attacker's Type. For every Blessing in possession (up to a max of 20 Blessings will be taken into account), additionally increases the Toughness Reduction of this attack by 100%. After breaking an enemy target's Weakness, additionally deals to the enemy target Break DMG equal to 100% of Ruan Mei's Ice Break DMG.

Traces

Major Traces

Inert Respiration

Increases Break Effect by 20% for all allies.

Days Wane, Thoughts Wax

Ruan Mei regenerates 5 Energy at the start of her turn.

Candle Lights on Still Waters

In battle, for every 10% of Ruan Mei's Break Effect that exceeds 120%, her Skill additionally increases allies' DMG by 6%, up to a maximum of 36%.